2

The Greek Alphabet

Sight and Sounds of the Greek Letters (Module B) The Letters and Pronunciation of the Greek Alphabet Phonology (Part 2)

Lesson Two Overview 2.0 Introduction, 2-1 2.1 The Ten Similar Letters, 2-2 2.2 The Six Deceptive Greek Letters, 2-4 2.3 The Nine Different Greek Letters, 2-7 2.4 History of the Greek Alphabet, 2-12 2.5 The Greek Alphabet Revisited, 2-18 Study Guide, 2-23

2.0 Introduction
Lesson One introduced the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet. Building on this foundation, Lesson Two continues with the sight and sounds of the Greek letters by merging simple vowel-consonant and consonant-vowel combinations together into syllables, the building blocks for learning Greek phonics. The focus of Lesson Two examines the similarities and dissimilarities between the Greek and English alphabetical letters and their phonemes to aid between what is known (English) and what is new (Greek). Almost without exception, introductory Greek grammars launch students immediately into grammar and vocabulary without first firmly grounding them in the Greek phonemic system. This is appropriate since they assume a Greek teacher will be present while the grammar is being presented, thereby helping with syllable and word pronunciation. However, there is little help in these introductory grammars for those who are going at it alone, or a small group who are learning New Testament Greek without the aid of a teachers pronunciation. The introductory lessons of this grammar go to great lengths to present a fullorbed pronunciation of the Erasmian Greek phonemic system. Some may think that the duration in which it is presented belabors it, especially those who have had previous contact with someone who has taught them the Erasmian Greek pronunciation system. If this is the case, then the following few lessons may be unnecessary. However, for those who are new to the Greek language will welcome this help, which will prepare them to read Greek, and not simply to translate it into their native language.
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The student needs to saturate himself with the sounds of the Greek language by using the MP3 audio files that accompany every lesson. By doing so, he is immersed in the language, by hearing, reading, and rereading Greek words and sentences. This is different from what a word or a sentence might mean. This is not what is important now; but an awareness of how Greek letters and words sound like is. This approach is similar with how a young child is at first engulfed in a sea of meaningless noise, from which gradually they learn to detect and recognize meaningful patterns and combinations of sounds as words.

2.1 The Ten Similar Letters

Ten of the twenty-four small Greek letters are easily recognizable because they are very close in appearance to their English counterparts. These letters are: English letters: Greek letters:

a a
1

b b

d d

e e

i i
2

k k

o o

s j
3

t t
4

u u
5

Some important differences between these letters are: 1. The a (alpha) should be written as a figure 8 laid on its side and opened on the right. 2. The Greek letter i (ita) is never dotted. 3. Final sigma (j) does not sit on the line like the English s. The final curve crosses and drops down below the line. 4. The Greek letter t (tau) is never crossed below the top of the vertical line like the English t. 5. Upslon and n may be easily confused when written. Form ups lon with a rounded bottom and turn the right upward stroke outward. The upper case should not be confused with the English upper case "Y". We begin with these letters because they look similar in appearance; however, caution needs to be exercised because they are not exactly identical. It is important not to write Greek letters to make them look like their English counterparts, for the respective lines above represent two different alphabets for two different languages. This will help not to fall into the trap of mistakenly pronouncing a Greek alphabetical letter as if it was an English alphabetical letter (i.e., saying K, k [kay] for kappa [K, k], or T, t [t] for tau [T, t]).

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Practice saying these letters aloud in different combinations with the aid of the drill below. Only the above ten similar Greek-English letters are used. Multisyllable words are divided for easier identification. If you wish to hear the instructors pronunciation, click on the audio link, Hear beside each row of Greek syllables. The variable vowels (a, i, u) may be long or short. Follow the example of the instructor for proper pronunciation.
Hear

a (short), ad, dad, at, bat, atik e, ek, de, det, ed, ded, bet
(a-tik)

Hear

Hear

i (short), id, did, bit, bid, kij o, ot, dot, boj, od, bob, kod u (short), tuk, kuk, kuj, buk dat, dek, deka, bik, dot, kakia Kij, kit, kat, bad, aj, kata kakoj, tutoj, batoj, tote dik, it, at, tad, okt, kot
(di-dak) (ka-koj) (tu-toj) (ba-toj) (to-te) (ka-ta) (de-ka) (ka-ki-a)

Hear

Hear

Hear

Hear

Hear

Hear

Hear

aj, bat, ta, da, didak, dedak kot, tak, toj, abba, Abia
(ab-ba) (A-bi-a) (a-di-ki-a) (ku-toj) (di-a) (de-dak)

Hear

Hear

adikia, kutoj, dia, dij, ktisij

(kti-sij)

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2.2 The Six Deceptive Greek Letters

Six lower case Greek letters (four consonants and two vowels) appear to be identical to English letters, but their appearance is very deceptive. These letters often confuse beginning Greek students, and therefore need to be carefully distinguished. These deceptive Greek letters are gamma (g), ta (h), nu (n), rh (r), ch (x), and mega (w). Their English look-alikes are also displayed in the chart below. Greek: English: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

g y

h n

n v

r p

x x

w w

The Greek letter, gamma (g), looks like the English letter y. The Greek letter, ta (h), looks like the English letter n. The Greek letter, n (n), looks like the English letter v. The Greek letter, rh (r), looks like the English letter p. The Greek letter, ch (x), looks like the English letter x. The Greek letter, mega (w), looks like the English letter w.

Below, each of the six lower case deceptive letters is examined separately. Special attention should be given to the proper pronunciation of these letters so that they may not be confused with their English look-alikes. 2.2.1 GAMMA

Gg

The lower case Greek letter, gamma (g, capital letter, G), is not to be confused with the English y. G, g is pronounced as the hard g as in go. It is never pronounced like the soft g as in gin. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

g, got, git, dag, bag, get, agen gukoj, gab, geb, dig, ge, gu, eg
(gu-koj) NTGreek In Session

Hear

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2.2.2 TA

Hh

The lower case Greek letter, ta (h, capital letter, H), does not correspond to the English n, but pronounced like the a in gate. Furthermore, its upper case letter (H) must not be confused with the English capital letter of h, H. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

h, hta, dh, adh, hdh, gh, gohj

(h-ta) (a-dh) (h-dh) (go-hj)

Hear

H, Hta, dikh, akoh, hg, ht, th

(H-ta) (di-kh) (a-ko-h)

Hear

hj, thj, thn, kakh, hte, hti, thde

(ka-kh) (h-te) (h-ti) (th-de)

2.2.3 N

Nn

The lower case Greek letter, n (n, capital letter, N), does not correspond to the English v, but is pronounced like the n as in in. A Greek alphabetical letter does not correspond to the English letter v. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

nu, nun, en, ten, ana, anebhn, diebhn

(a-na) (a-ne-bhn) (di-e-bhn)

Hear

agen, naoj, neoj, tanh, kidon, kenh

(a-gen) (na-oj) (ne-oj) (ta-nh) (ki-don) (ke-nh)

Hear

gen, genna, nukta, nikh, genh, ban

(gen-na) (nu-kta) (ni-kh) (ge-nh)

Hear

ghn, genoj, onoj, gunh, thn

(ge-noj) (o-noj) (gu-nh)

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2.2.4 RH

Rr

Neither the lower or upper case Greek letter, rh (r, capital letter, R), corresponds to the English p or P, respectively, but pronounced as the r as in roar. Rh was probably trilled in ancient Greek (as in Modern Greek), but it will suffice for the purpose of these lessons to pronounce it as suggested. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

ar, gar, nekroj, kar, ergon, oroj

(ne-kroj) (er-gon) (o-roj)

Hear

enedra, erij, kart, dart, bart

(e-ne-dra) (e-rij)

Hear

Dark, drank, dhr, krina, truk, trij

(kri-na)

2.2.5 CH

Xx

Neither the upper or lower case Greek letter, ch (x, capital letter, X), correspond to the English X, x. Ch can be confused with the pronunciation of kappa (K, k) unless it is remembered that the breath is not entirely cut off with ch. Ch is represented phonetically in English by two letters, kh. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

xi, xa, xara, xaran, xronoj

(xa-ra) (xa-ran) (xro-noj)

Hear

xh, doxh, Xarran, xarij, xarhte

(do-xh) (Xar-ran) (xa-rij) (xa-rh-te)

Hear

Trixaj, hxoj, exarh, exei, xar

(Tri-xaj) (h-xoj) (e-xa-rh) (e-xei)

Hear

doxh, didaxh, enoxoj, exidna

(do-xh) (di-da-xh) (e-no-xoj) (e-xi-dna) NTGreek In Session

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2.2.6 MEGA

Ww

The lower case Greek letter, mega (w, capital letter, W), must not be confused with the English w. This long vowel is always pronounced as the long o in tone. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

egw, exw, arxw, krinw, dwdeka

(e-gw) (e-xw) (ar-xw) (kri-nw) (dw-de-ka)

Hear

agwgh, Won, wdinw, wdh, wtion

(a-gw-gh) (w-di-nw) (w-dh) (w-ti-on)

Hear

agw, xwrij, xwroj, tw, twn

(a-gw) (xw-rij) (xw-roj)

2.3 The Nine Different Greek Letters

Nine lower case Greek letters (all consonants) are very different in appearance from any English letters. These letters are as follows: Greek Letter: Greek Name: 2.3.1 ZTA

z
zta

c p

y
ps

thta lambda m xs p sigma ph

Zz

The Greek letter, zta (z, capital letter, Z), is pronounced like the z as in zebra when it begins a word. Within a word, zta is pronounced like dz as in adds. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phonemes.
Hear

zh, zhta, zhtew, tiza, ktizw, ezhn

(zh-ta) (zh-te-w) (ti-za) (kti-zw) (e-zhn)

Hear

gaza, biazw, zu, zugoj, krazw, kraz

(ga-za) (bi-a-zw) (zu-goj) (kra-zw) NTGreek In Session

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2.3.2 THTA

Qq

The Greek letter, thta (q, capital letter, Q), is represented phonetically in English by two letters, th. The pronunciation of this letter is always like th in thin or think, and never as in thy or this. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phonemes.
Hear

qh, qhta, qe, qeoj, quw, qura

(qh-ta) (qe-oj) (qu-w) (qu-ra)

Hear

eqnoj, Qan, qro, qronoj, kaqwj

(e-qnoj) (qro-noj) (ka-qwj)

Hear

qronw, qhrion, ekaqhto, orqwj

(qro-nw) (qh-ri-on) (e-ka-qh-to) (or-qwj)

Hear

oqonh, kiqara, Qara, qanatw

(o-qo-nh) (ki-qa-ra) (Qa-ra) (qa-na-tw)

2.3.3 LAMBDA

Ll

The Greek letter, lambda (l, capital letter, L), is pronounced like the l in lute. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

lambda, legw, liqoj, luw, Lege

(lam-bda) (le-gw) (li-qoj) (lu-w) (Le-ge)

Hear

ellw, oxloj, alla, logoj

(el-lw) (o-xloj) (al-la) (l-goj)

Hear

qelontoj, kala, kaloj, Libuh

(qe-lon-toj) (ka-la) (ka-loj) (Li-bu-h)

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2.3.4 M

Mm

The Greek letter m (m, capital letter, M), is pronounced like the m as in man. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

mu, mh, mhde, limoj, gamoj, bhma

(mh-de) (li-moj) (ga-moj) (bh-ma)

Hear

mhthr, tiqhmi, Erhmoj, Nomoj

(mh-thr) (ti-qh-mi) (E-rh-moj) (No-moj)

Hear

Ariqmon, genhqwmen, legomen

(A-riq-mon) (ge-nh-qw-men) (le-go-men)

Hear

Meta, bhmatoj, Kamhlon, merimnwn

(Me-ta) (bh-ma-toj) (ka-mh-lon) (me-ri-mnwn)

2.3.5

XS

Cc

The Greek letter, xs (c, capital letter, C), is pronounced like the x in fox, or in axe, and is represented phonetically as xs in English. This consonant is never pronounced like the x as in xylophone. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

ci, ec, ecw, ca, nuc, cu, culon

(e-cw) (cu-lon)

Hear

ac, acinh, doc, doca, Culina

(a-ci-nh) (do-ca) (Cu-li-na)

Hear

toc, tocon, Tech, tacin, tacij

(to-con) (Te-ch) (ta-cin) (ta-cij)

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2.3.6 P

Pp

The Greek letter, p (p, capital letter, P) is pronounced like the p in party or poet. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

pi, pa, pu, pi, pinw, epi, po, Polij

(pi-nw) (e-pi) (po-lij)

Hear

para, apagw, plh, plhn, Pe

(pa-ra) (a-pa-gw)

Hear

topon, Lupw, lupaj, kopoj, Koptw

(to-pon) (Lu-pw) (lu-paj) (ko-poj) (Ko-ptw)

Hear

dapanh, apo, Pur, pura, purgon

(da-pa-nh) (a-po) (pu-ra) (pur-gon)

2.3.7 SIGMA

Ssj

The Greek letter, sigma (s, capital letter, S, final form, j) is pronounced like the s in sit. Sigma is pronounced like the s as in rose before the consonants, b, g, d and m (this will be more fully explained in section 4.3.1). Otherwise, both the medial and final forms of sigma are pronounced the same. Read the following words aloud and practice pronouncing each letter separately.
Hear

su, sun, se, sebw, sh, shj, shpw

(se-bw) (sh-pw)

Hear

skolon, suka, sukh, sukhj, kosmoj

(sko-lon) (su-ka) (su-kh) (su-khj) (ko-smoj) Sounds like z before m

Hear

taj, batoj, asebh, Asia, Xristoj

(ba-toj) (a-se-bh) (A-si-a) (Xri-stoj) NTGreek In Session

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2.3.8 PH

Ff

The Greek letter, ph (f, capital letter, F), is pronounced like the ph in phone or as in photograph, and is represented phonetically in English as ph or as f. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

fi, fwj, ofij, ferw, tufloj

(o-fij) (fe-rw) (tu-floj)

Hear

fwta, fwtwn, Fwtizw, ofin

(fw-ta) (fw-twn) (Fw-ti-zw) (o-fin)

Hear

kofinwn, blasfhma, afelh

(ko-fi-nwn) (blas-fh-ma) (a-fe-lh)

Hear

afrizw, Fhmi, adelfoj, grafw

(a-fri-zw) (Fh-mi) (a-del-foj) (gra-fw)

2.3.9 PS

Yy

The Greek letter, ps (y, capital letter, Y) is pronounced like the ps in lips or as in steps, and is represented phonetically as ps in English. Read the following syllables and words aloud as many times as necessary to be able to recognize the Greek alphabetical letter and its associated phoneme.
Hear

yi, yuxh, yiloj, yalmoj, yhfizw

(yu-xh) (yi-loj) (yal-moj) (yh-fi-zw)

Hear

skayw, Yuxoj, yuxroj, yalw

(ska-yw) (Yu-xoj) (yu-xroj) (ya-lw)

Hear

qliyij, grayw, bleyw, luyij

(qli-yij) (gra-yw) (ble-yw) (lu-yij)

Hear

ayij, ywxw, yalmw, Yuxhj

(a-yij) (yw-xw) (yal-mw) (Yu-xhj) NTGreek In Session

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2.4 History of the Greek Alphabet

An exact history of the development of the Greek alphabet is tentative at best because of its antiquity. The fact that the Greek alphabet derives from an earlier Semitic script is uncontested. However, the exact source(s) of the Greek alphabet are controversial. Some scholars theorize it arose from the ProtoCanaanite and the Phoenician scripts, whereas other theories include Egypt, Assyria, and Minoan Crete. In actuality, the antiquity of the Greek alphabet may be older than originally believed, exemplified by the potsherd to the right. The historical development of the Greek language may be sketched through five eras: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Byzantine, and finally, Modern Greek. The alphabet is one of the few linguistic elements that remained essentially unchanged between the Classical and Modern Greek Eras, although the pronunciation of its letters has evolved throughout the centuries. From the shape of ancient Greek letters, many The potsherd above is scholars believe the Greeks adopted the shape, dated 5500-6000 BC. It order, and names from the Phoenician alphabet. In was recovered at the islet support of this, in the fifth century BC, the Greek Yura of Northern Sporades. The Greek letters Alpha, historian, Herodotus, called the Greek letters Upsilon and Delta can be phoinichia grammata (foinixhia grammata), recognized. Is this proof which means, Phoenician letters. It is believed that the Greek alphabet that the alphabet was first introduced to Greece predates the Phoenician alphabet? during the late ninth century BC by the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were merchant traders from Lebanon, who had colonies throughout the Mediterranean, including Cyprus. Because of mutual interests, the Phoenicians encountered the ancient Greeks, principally the Minoan and the Mycenaean peoples, and cultural diffusion took place, most importantly, the dissemination of their alphabet. The Archaic Greek alphabet went under transformation with the alteration of some Phoenician consonants into vowels. Unlike the later Classical Greek alphabet, which contains vowels and consonants, the Phoenician alphabet only

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had consonant letters. The Greeks phonemically altered some of the Phoenician consonants into vowels. For example, the Phoenician letter, aleph (which is a glottal stop consonant), became alpha (a vowel sound). The first vowels were alpha, epslon, ita, omkron, and upslon (copied from waw). Eventually, mega was introduced as a long o sound. Greek thus became the first known alphabet in the world with letters for both vowels and consonants, and thus the first phonetic alphabet. Many alphabets that contain vowels, notably the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets, are ultimately derived from the Greek alphabet. Because the Roman alphabet is the foundation for Western European languages, and the Cyrillic alphabet for Eastern European languages (and even the Scandinavian Runic alphabet), this makes the Greek alphabet the parent alphabet for all modern European alphabets. The oldest surviving alphabetic inscriptions are written using this new system and date from the late eighth century BC.
The small clay tablet shown left was found among the ruins of the ancient city of Ugarit in 1948, located near the modern Syrian coast. Ugarit flourished from 1400 to 1200 B.C. The tablet is part of a collection of over three hundred clay tablets that have thus far been found. Interestingly, most of the tablets recovered are mythological texts. However, this one was an abecedarian. The artifact was most probably created by an apprentice scribe practicing his ABCs (hence, an abecedarian). However, three characters appear to be missing. This clay tablet is an example of an ancient alphabet, one which is very different from the Greek alphabet.

During its evolution, the Greek alphabet also developed three new aspirate consonants that were appended to the end of the alphabet. These consonants were ph, ch, and ps . These consonants were mainly to make up for the lack of aspirates in the Phoenician alphabet. Other consonants were used, and then disappeared. For example, the letter, san, was used at variance with sigma. The letters, waw (latter called digamma) and qoppa disappeared too, the former used in the western Greek dialects. At first, there were a number of different versions and variants of the Greek alphabet (see next page). These differences were probably due to geographical isolation between Greek city-states including Ionia, Athens, Corinth, Argos, and

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Comparison Chart of the Greek Epichorical Alphabets with Modern Greek

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Euboea. These different Greek alphabets are called epichorical alphabets, alphabets peculiar to a particular district or region. Although there are many differences between these epichorical alphabets, enough similarities exist to suggest the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet once and then fractured rapidly into local variants, rather than each city-state adopting the Phoenician alphabet multiple times. At one time, the alphabet in Greece consisted of twenty-seven letters. Three of these letters, koppa, stigma, and samp, used for special mathematical symbols, became extinct. With the extinction of these letters, the alphabet was eventually trimmed to the same twenty-four letters which are used today. From the beginning, Greek letters were written right-to-left horizontally. This was natural since their alphabetical letters opened to the left like their parent Semitic alphabet. However, as the alphabet evolved, the early Greeks adopted an unusual practice of writing every second row in the opposite direction. The Greeks alternated the direction of the letters with every line; first running left-toright, then right-to-left. This form of early Greek writing, known as boustrophedon (boustrofhdo/n, ox-turning), resembles the path of an ox-drawn plough across a field.

This is a very early Greek boustrophedon inscription, dating around 650 BC. The text runs from left-toright, then doubling back to run from right-to-left, making the orientation of the letter dependent on the direction of writing. The asymmetrical characters are flipped (mirrored), and the in-between letters written either way. This style of writing altered the form of many of the letters: written from left-to-right they reproduce the original form as seen in a mirror.

An example of boustrophedon style of writing may be found in the modern city of Gortys in Crete, where the laws of the city were carved on a wall in this unique method, which are still visible today. Around the fifth century BC, the practice changed to the direction of writing the alphabet on horizontal lines running only left-to-right, which continues to the present day.

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The Classical or the Hellenistic Period extends from about 750 BC to 350/330 BC. The Classical Period began with Homer because the Iliad and the Odyssey, hexameter poems centering on the Trojan War and anciently attributed to the Ionian poet Homer, constitute the earliest examples of Greek literature. As an overview, during the Classical Period, the alphabet may be divided into two alphabet-types: Western Greek and Eastern Greek. The difference between these two different alphabet-types differed in the way of writing a few of the letters. The Eastern alphabet later developed into Classical and Byzantine Greek (as well as Cyrillic, Gothic, Coptic, Armenian and Georgian). The Western family led to the creation of the Italic, Etruscan, and Roman varieties. During the Classical Period, different dialects developed in different regions, as mentioned before, each of which had its own significance for the history of the language. The most influential dialect, however, was the one spoken in and around the region of Athens. This dialect is called, Attic Greek. Along with the Ionic dialect, the dialect spoken mainly in the Greek city-states directly across the Aegean Sea from Athens, these two exerted significant influence on each other as the preferred forms of the language for oratory and philosophical prove, eventually producing a dialect now called Attic-Ionic. Much of the great Greek literature was written in this dialect. Athens long list of great writers and philosophers includes such names as those of the tragic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; the comic poet, Aristophanes; the historians, Thucydides and Xenophon; Plato and Aristotle, philosophers; and the orator Demosthenes. Generally speaking, Classical Greek is Attic Greek. Gradually, the different Greek epichorical alphabets moved toward uniformity. In 403 BC, Athens adopted the Ionic alphabet of Miletus as its official alphabet. The rest of the mainland followed Athens standard, that by the middle of the fourth century BC, almost all the other epichorical alphabets disappeared. The Modern Greek capital letters are almost identical to those of the Ionic alphabet. The minuscule, or lower case letters, first appeared sometime during or after the eighth century AD, which developed from the Byzantine minuscule script. Alexander the Great himself was schooled in Attic Greek. In connection with the spread of his dominion, this dialect became modified by the languages with which it came into contact. The new dialect became the koinh\ dia&lektoj, or common dialect of the world.

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The Koin Period extends from 330 BC to the building of Byzantium by Constantine in 330 AD. Koin Greek was the dialect in which the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures were made, translated in Alexandria in 280 BC by seventy scholars (hence, Septuagint). The histories of Polybius, the discourses of Epictetus, and the Greek New Testament also date from this period. Because of the conquests of Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) the language underwent further changes. Alexander carried the Attic-Ionic form of the language, along with Greek culture more generally, far into the Near East where it became the standard language of commerce and government, existing along side many local languages. Greek was normally adopted as a second language by the native people of these regions and was ultimately transformed into what has come to be called the Hellenistic Koin or common Greek. The letters of the Greek alphabet, supplemented with three supernumerary letters, were used since at least the third century BC as numerals. The first nine letters of the alphabet stood for the digits, the obsolete digamma being retained for 6, and the remaining letters for tens and hundreds, the obsolete koppa being retained for 90, and the obsolete sampi for 900. Written with a tick or a horizontal line above the letter to indicate that it is to be understood as a number, the letters of the alphabet have the following values:

a/=1 b/=2 g/=3 d/=4 e/=5 V / or v / = 6 z/=7

h/=8 q/=9 i / = 10 k / = 20 l / = 30 m / = 40 n / = 50

c / = 60 o / = 70 p / = 80 J / = 90 r / = 100 s / = 200 t / = 300

u / = 400 f / = 500 x / = 600 y / = 700 w / = 800 ` / = 900 |a = 1000

Diacritical markings were first introduced to the alphabet during the second century BC by Aristophanes of Byzantium (257-180 BC). Aristophanes was the successor to Eratosthenes as head of the Alexandrian Library. These diacritical marks were added for phonetic purposes, making Greek words easier to learn to pronounce by foreigners. These diacritical markings are divided into two types: breathing marks and accents.
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There were two breathing marks. Words beginning with a vowel or rh had a breathing mark, either smooth or rough. A right-facing mark (which looks like a single closing quotation mark) was called a rough breathing mark, and indicated that aspiration was associated with the letter. A left-facing mark (which looks like a single opening quotation mark) was called a smooth breathing mark, and indicated that there was no aspiration (h) associated with the letter. In 1982, the diacritical markings representing breathings (which were not widely used after 1976), were officially abolished by presidential decree. Similar to breathing marks, Greek accents are associated with vowels and diphthongs, but never with rh. Also like breathing marks, accents were employed later than NTGreek times by copyists of Greek manuscripts to assist in the pronunciation of Greek words by those to whom the language was foreign. Since the Second Century BC, Greek words were commonly accented with one of three possible accents: the acute, grave, or the circumflex. The three accents that were used in Greek were one of pitch (tonal accent) rather than one of stress (dynamic accent). When Greek was written for native Greek readers, or for those well acquainted with the language, the accent and breathing marks were normally omitted (just as English accent marks omitted for English readers). In papyri and the earlier uncial manuscripts, the accent and breathing marks are rare and sporadic. By the seventh century, scribes tend to introduce accent and breathing marks in greater numbers. By the ninth century, they were universally used in uncial and minuscule manuscripts. Finally, in Ancient Greek, in some cases when iota appeared after certain vowels (a diphthong), it was written with a subscript iota under the vowel instead. This was called an iota subscript. These do not occur in Modern Greek.

2.5 The Greek Alphabet Revisited

The importance in learning the Greek letters is not only to recite perfectly their alphabetical sequence, but more importantly, to learn the different phoneme(s) associated with each Greek letter. The Greek alphabetical sequence only represents a convenient arrangement in conventional order to learn these different phonemes. Before pressing forward to the next lesson, know how to pronounce the twenty-four Greek alphabetical letters flawlessly, the foundation for Greek phonicsthe principal focus of lessons three through five.

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Aa Bb Gg Dd Ee Zz

Alphabetical Character Short Phoneme (The a as in "dad") Long Phoneme (The a as in "father")

Alphabetical Character Phoneme (The b as in "ball")

Alphabetical Character Phoneme (The g as in "got")

Alphabetical Character Phoneme (The d as in "dog")

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The e as in "net")

Alphabet Character Phoneme (initial; like the "z" in "gaze".) Phoneme (medial or final; like the "dz" in "adz".)

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Hh Qq Ii Kk Ll Mm

Alphabetical Character Phoneme (The e as in "obey".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The th as in "thin".)

Alphabet Character Short Phoneme (The i as in "hit".) Long Phoneme (The i as in "machine".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The k as in "kin".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The l as in "lot".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The m as in "man".)

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Nn Cc Oo Pp Rr Ssj

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The n as in "new".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The x as in "axe".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The ough as in "ought".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The p as in "party".)

Alphabet Character Initial Position Phoneme (with aspiration) (The rh as in "rhino".) Medial Position Phoneme (without aspiration) (The r as in "ride".) Alphabet Character Unvoiced Phoneme (The s as in "sit".) Voiced Phoneme (The s as in "is".)

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Tt Uu Ff Xx Yy Ww

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The t as in "talk".)

Alphabet Character Short Phoneme (The u as in "put".) Long Phoneme (The u as in "lute".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The ph as in "phone".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The ch as in "chemist".)

Alphabet Character Initial Phoneme (The ps as in "psalms".) Medial or Final Phoneme (The ps as in "lips".)

Alphabet Character Phoneme (The o as in "note".)

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Study Guide
The Greek Alphabet Sight and Sounds of the Greek Letters (Module B) Phonology (Part 2)

Exercise One: Pronunciation Practice. Practice writing the following Greek letter combinations several times. Most of these examples were taken from the lesson. While forming the Greek letters, say their names aloud several times. The accompanying MP3 audio files pronounce the letters together.
Hear (Set One)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

ab bat tode kata bik bid did bat kut kub dot Gad
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Hear (Set Two)

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

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Hear (Set Three)

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

gib dh dikh ban thn gen kart kala xar exw zh tiza gaza qeoj eqnoj logoj alla
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Hear (Set Four)

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29.

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Hear (Set Five)

30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

mu eqem doc doca nuc pa apo Pur se shj suka fi fulh Fhmi yi yalw qliyij
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Hear (Set Six)

38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

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Exercise Two: Similarities and dissimilarities of the Greek-English letters. Below is a brief review of the similarities and the dissimilarities between the Greek and English letters. Listen to the audio files with your eyes closed, while at the same time imagining what the Greek letters look like. Never call a Greek letter by what it looks like in English. Remember, in order to learn Greek effectively, you must not translate, but read Greek for what it isa different language than English. 1. There are ten Greek letters that appear very close to their English counterparts.
Hear

Aa Kk

Bb Oo

d j

Ee Tt

Ii u

a. How many of these letters are vowels? ___________. Which vowels may be pronounced both long and short? ______, _______, and ________. Which two vowels are always short? ______, ______. b. Which letter is written as a figure 8 laid on its side and opened on the right? _________. c. Which letter is never dotted? ________. d. Which letter crosses, then its curve drops down below the line? ______. e. Which letter has a tail that extends below the line? ________. f. Which letters have capitals that are very different from their small letters? ______, ______, and _______. g. Which letter has as its capital letter S? _______. h. Which letter has as its capital letter U? _______. i. Which letter has as its capital letter D? _______.

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2. Six deceptively looking Greek letters appear to be like English letters, but are not. These letters will prove difficult unless learned well.
Hear

Rr

Xx

a. Which letter are vowels? ______ and ______. b. Which letter sounds like the English r? _______. c. Which letter sounds like the English g? ______. d. Which letter sounds like the English n? _______. e. Which letter sounds like (long o)? _______. f. Which small letter has a capital that looks like a horseshoe? ______. g. Which letter sounds like (long a)? _______. h. Which small letter has as its capital N? ________. i. Which small letter has as its capital G? ________. j. Which small letter has as its capital H? ________ k. Gamma is pronounced as the hard g as in go, and never as the soft g as in _________. l. Which letter sounds like something you use to unlock your door? _____. m. Which letter sounds like something you do to a boat? _____. n. Which letter sounds like the English word new? _______. o. Finish spelling the following names of the Greek letters: gam_____ t___ rh____ me_____ n____ ch____

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3. There are nine Greek letters very different from any English letters.
Hear

Zz Pp
b.

Qq Ss

Ll Ff

Mm Yy

Cc

a. Which letter has a final form? _______. Which letter looks like a cactus? ______.

c. Which four Greek letters are represented phonetically in English by two letters? _______, ________, ________, and ________. Exercise Three: Transposition. Transpose all the following Greek capital letters into their corresponding small letters, using the space provided.

TAXIN _______________ SWTHROS ____________ NUC _________________ AGAPWSIN ____________ QEOS ________________ FULAKH ______________

KOSMON ______________ LITRA _________________ KALWN ________________ YUXH __________________ AMPELOS ______________ XARISMA _______________

Exercise Four: True and False Questions. Choose whether the statement is true or false. 1. The fact that the Greek alphabet derives from an earlier Semitic script is uncontested. True False 2. The capital letter for d is D. True False
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3. The capital letter for u is U.

True

False False True False

4. The capital letter for g is G. True

5. The Greek dialect spoken in ancient Athens was Attic.

6. The Greek alphabetical characters never changed in shape from the time of Archaic Greek to Modern Greek. True False 7. The Greek alphabetical characters never changed in pronunciation from the time of the Classical Period to Modern Greek. True False 8. No examples of boustrophedon style of Greek writing exits. True False

9. Aristophanes of Byzantium is attributed of introducing diacritical markings in connection with the Greek alphabet. True False 10. The Greek letters were used as numbers, written with a tick or a horizontal line above the letter. True False 11. During the Classical Period, the Greek alphabet may be divided into two alphabet-types: Eastern and Western Greek. True False 12. In 403 BC, Athens adopted the Ionic alphabet of Miletus as its official alphabet. True False Exercise Five: Multiple Choice. Choose the best answer. 1. Examples of Greek epichorical alphabets are: a. Thucydides and Xenophon b. Ionia and Euboea c. Cyrillic and Gothic d. Classical and Koin

2. At the time of the Classical Period, the Greek alphabet contained how many Greek letters? a. twenty-four b. twenty c. twenty-eight d. twenty-seven

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3. Which letters became extinct from the Greek alphabet? a. alpha and koppa b. gamma and delta c. stigma and samp d. omkron and diagamma

4. How many consonants are there in the Modern Greek alphabet? a. fourteen b. fifteen c. sixteen d. seventeen

5. How many Greek vowels are always pronounced short? a. two b. three c. four d. five

6. Which alphabet became the first alphabet which contained both vowels and consonants? a. Greek b. German c. English d. Phoenician

7. The capital letters of the Modern Greek alphabet are almost identical to which ancient Greek epichorical alphabet? a. Corinth b. Argos c. Ionic d. Corinth

________________________________________ Having examined and practiced saying and writing the entire Greek alphabet, it may continue to seem strange for a little while longer. This is natural and is to be expected. The reason is because the Greek alphabet has several different symbols to represent different sounds than in English. However, if you discipline yourself to study the Greek alphabet, you will soon know it very well.

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